Where do Asia's top chefs shop for ingredients?

Chris Dwyer, CNN
• Updated 23rd August 2017

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(CNN) — Regardless of whether it has a trio of Michelin stars attached to its name, a restaurant is nothing without amazing produce.

The finest dishes are often created with ingredients from the most humble of sources -- the local market. It's there that chefs will bargain alongside regular home cooks, also on the lookout for the perfect potato or freshest fish.

Here, some of Asia's top chefs reveal which markets they head to for produce, inspiration -- or both.

Chef: Chisaki Iba, Mizuki Sushi at the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto

Favorite market: Kyoto Central Wholesale Market

For gastronomes and food tourists the world over, Japan is often mentioned in hallowed terms when it comes to the quality and integrity of fresh market produce.

Iba visits the market at 7 a.m. to scoop up fresh seafood from her supplier.

Ritz-Carlton Kyoto

She frequently visits the market at 7 a.m. to shop for the seasonal catch, inspecting up to 15 different kinds of fish at her regular supplier. Back in the restaurant, Iba relies on the fresh produce to craft world-class sushi and sashimi for lucky diners.

Or Tor Kor Market, which lies just opposite the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market, is often praised as one of the best outdoor food markets in Asia.

Jarrett Wrisley -- chef-owner of Soul Food Mahanakorn, with locations in Bangkok and Hong Kong -- is a huge fan.

"As wet markets continue to close across the region, and food is moved into sterilized malls and supermarkets, it's great to see this market thrive," he says.

"The sheer variety of produce is head-spinning and, at Or Tor Kor, it's all sourced from the best fruit and vegetable farms in central Thailand.

"There are sections with beautiful seafood, fresh and salted and dried; organic rice and dry goods; and butchers that work in clean rooms with refrigeration -- unlike other, more basic outdoor markets."

"It's situated right where all the Chinese heritage and culture is as well, so it's always a nice sight to see the locals around. I purchase ingredients like wolf herring, turtles, frogs, clams and other live seafood from this market. Aside from being hard to find elsewhere, I find that the items sold here tend to be fresher as well."

Bar.B.Q. Tonight is an institution in Karachi, Pakistan, thanks to its legendary grilled meats.

Chef Haji Abdul Qahar was born and raised in Kunduz, Afghanistan, before leaving the war-torn country with his family as a teenager.He arrived in Karachi in 1988, the same year Bar.B.Q. Tonight opened its doors. Soon enough, he started working there as a dishwasher.

Qahar's passion paved his path to become head chef, where today he oversees menus that include extensive produce from Empress Market. Constructed in 1884, this landmark is the city's oldest market and offers everything from spices and meat to textiles.

"I love coming back here, as it brings back memories of earlier days when I first moved to Karachi," says Qahar.

He keeps a particular eye out for seafood, especially grilled jumbo prawns and pomfret fish.

Chef Tsai Shihrong began his culinary career at 16 years of age and joined Silks Palace in 2009.

He is a fan of Taipei's Dihua Street Market, located in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, where today century-old apothecaries and dried goods businesses stand beside hipster cafes and artisan boutiques.

Dihua market in Taipei offers one of the city's most diverse shopping experiences.

SAM YEH/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

In terms of produce, it's most famous for its Chinese medicine shops, where owners are on friendly and familiar terms with long-term customers, such as chef Tsai.

"With its high-quality produce and rich heritage, Dihua Street market is one of the best-kept secrets in Taipei," Tsai explains.

Tsai relies on eight Chinese herbal ingredients with medicinal properties to make a signature Chinese dessert: Eight Treasure Cake. These include water lily and lotus seeds, Chinese yam, white lentils and the wonderfully named "atractylodes," from the sunflower family.

Whether you're looking for products to cook with or take away as souvenirs, Shanghai's Chang Chun market is a well-known spot for travel-friendly gourmet produce, from regional snacks to high-end preserved products.

"When choosing dried shrimp or scallops, I use the nose test. If it smells good, it usually tastes good. The quality of product is usually reflected in the price tag, so choose ingredients according to your budget!"

Sunwoo uses versatile XO sauce to add umami to his dishes, flavoring everything from local scallion noodles, spruced up with slow-cooked egg and salted pollock roe.

Xiang Palace is a fine-dining restaurant at the Intercontinental serving Cantonese cuisine helmed by Malaysian Chinese chef Justin Kam. Born and raised in Penang, Malaysia, Kam's passion for cooking came from watching his grandmother prepare authentic Nyonya dishes for family gatherings.

Chef Justin Kam shops at Phsar Thmei, aka Central Market.

Xiang Palace Restaurant

His favorite market in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh is Central Market, or Phsar Thmei in Khmer.

It was built in 1937 and retains its elegant Art Deco look, but it's not just food on sale. Travelers will find everything from handbags to electronics.

"Visiting this market is always a great experience, as there's a wide variety of local and imported fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood and meat," says Kam.

Tambimuttu is a veteran of The Langham in Melbourne, Australia, with an 18-year tenure at the hotel.

He chooses Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market, one of the city's most popular tourist destinations, as his all-time favorite.

"It's vast, comprehensive and caters to home cooks as well as seasoned chefs," Tambimuttu explains. "From the extensive selection of fresh produce to the famous bratwurst and donuts, the exclusive cheese larder and seafood hall, Queen Victoria Market has it all."

Top purchases?

"The barramundi from Western Australia, Tasmanian salmon and locally produced Yarra Valley Dairy goats' cheese are my staples."

Cherkas points to a mysterious black powder, sold by many traders. It's actually made from the seeds of a native fruit called keluak, which is used to make pamarrasan, a classic curry dish. The seeds are boiled, wrapped in banana leaf and fermented underground for more than a month. When cracked open, the black interior is removed, dried and powdered.

"The taste is bitter like roasted nuts, deep like slow-cooked onions and earthy like mushrooms," says Cherkas. "The flavor, pure umami."

British-born Daniel Woodbridge worked around the world with stints in Australia, Bali, Cambodia and Montenegro, before landing at the Amanoi resort in Vietnam in 2015.

In a country renowned for the vibrancy of its herbs and flavors, Woodbridge doesn't have to venture far to find an amazing market. His favorite is Xom Moi in Nha Trang, a coastal city in southern Vietnam. The bustling and busy spot is filled with aromas, colors and noise as stallholders tempt buyers.

"This is the best market in Nha Trang," he says. "It's special, as all the fish is locally caught and all the vegetables are organic."

Using market ingredients, Woodbridge crafts fragrant dishes such as sea bass wrapped up in turmeric leaves, as well as Sup Hai San, a seafood soup cooked in a clay pot.

French chef Gil Dumoulin worked at legendary Parisian institutions including Fouquet's and Hôtel de Crillon before moving to Morocco to work as a chef for the royal family. He later relocated to Myanmar, where he took up the reins at Le Planteur.

Le Planteur's beginnings in 1998 were modest, hidden at the end of a bumpy lane in the Myanmar capital Yangon.

The restaurant then moved into an elegant mansion with romantic gardens, before settling in its current location on the shore of Inya Lake. Dumoulin became a regular at Hledan Market, where hundreds of stalls congregate in a sprawling intersection of four roads.

"We find the freshest products, any day of the week, especially herbs and spices as well as local shrimp," says Dumoulin.

The produce makes its way onto menus at Le Planteur, as well as at sister restaurants, Bistro and Gourmet.